Latitude E6500, what's to know? Prospective buyer.

I do not plan on using this with a docking station, and I will occasionally use this with an external monitor.

 

So no one else is experiencing feedback and noise distortion from the headphone jack?

Or lose body panels/ flex/soft spots or any other issues? It's been pretty reliable and durable?

 

if you're in the US, you're most likely to get one from poland, or maybe malaysia. im not sure if they do precision laptops in the US, i think the US sites mainly do the servers.

i've had a unit from ireland and a unit from malaysia, both were great.

 

My E6400 was from Poland, it was pretty banged up when I got it but it was probably damaged in transit, because the box was damaged too. I have since gotten a new unit, also from Poland, and it's just fine.

EDIT -- I didn't mention, but the new unit was a replacement, I didn't pay for it. Dell tried fixing the problems of the first unit by replacing parts, but after two or three tech calls I asked for a new unit and they happily obliged.

 

My new (Dell Outlet via reseller) UK E4300 also says made in Poland. It seems to be very well put together.

John

 

I just read this part again. I'm not sure whether you will go for the integrated or the discrete card, but you should be aware that the Dell Precision M4400 is pretty much a copy of the Dell Latitude E6500 with a more powerful graphics card and more options available (quad-core, RGB-LED screen). The chassis and parts are the same (interchangeable even), and there are some cosmetic differences (mostly the lid).

 

i think the only cosmetic difference is the lid. the physical chassis seems to be identical, to facilitate parts commonality with the E series.

 

OK, I wasn't sure of that. It's a real shame, I think the E6500 looks much better than the M4400.

 

i dunno. i think the all black of the E series isnt that nice, because the silver battery looks out of place. the two-tone m4400 looks better IMO, but the rippled lid is a bit off putting for some. personally i like it. looks unique compared to everything else out there

 

Wow I didn't realize that the M4400 was pretty much the same as the E6500, except with a more powerful graphics card. In fact that was my biggest gripe with the E6500. I definitely want a discrete graphics card and honestly the quadro nvs 160m barely cuts it.

I'm surprised that they have a quadro fx 770m option in that chassis! Is cooling ample enough under the hood? Seems like it could get a bit hot, but that's expected from such a powerful card.


You also mentioned that many parts are interchangeable, would you think that the video card could be swappable? Honestly, I'd want to stick with the E6500 as it cost almost $1,000 less after I've priced them both. And the only thing going for me in the M4400 is the graphics card, although I wouldn't mind switching it out one day, if it were possible.